Sunday, August 20, 2006

Paolo Cian is the King of the mountain

He shall be called, “Alinghi slayer.”Paolo Cian won his first World Match Racing Tour championship when he defeated Ed Baird in the final of the 4th annual St. Moritz Match Race. Cian won the series 2-1, which was halted when the 4:00 pm time limit passed.

Cian and his Team Viano Mercedes Benz crew Pierluigi Fornelli and Nello Pavoni finished with a 13-6 record and won SFr 32,000 (approximately $25,000) of the SFr 150,000 (approx. $121,000) prize purse.

He also won the new “King of the Mountain” trophy, a 45-pound piece of granite from Maloja Valley south of St. Moritz. A weighty trophy, Cian nearly toppled when he picked it up. They earned this championship, advancing out of the Repechage Round and then defeating the three Alinghi helmsmen – Peter Holmberg, 2-1, in the quarterfinals, Jochen Schuemann, 2-0, in the semifinals and Baird – in successive rounds.“It was just our week,” said Cian, 39, from Naples, Italy.

“I’d like to congratulate Alinghi. They had three very strong teams here. My crew did an amazing job calling tactics on a weird lake. We struggled to understand what you could achieve at the beginning, but improved all week.”